When natural landscapes aren’t protected in some manner, they will almost always at some point wind up developed.
Anything above 4,200 feet in Yosemite National Park (just 200 feet above the valley floor) is protected by the Wilderness Act, passed in response to the development of natural landscapes around the country. The protection in Yosemite prevents the development of the iconic and massive walls found throughout the park, and while it may seem impossible to imagine Yosemite as a heavily developed area, there have been proposals in the past.
In 1929, Yosemite National Park‘s concessionaire Donald Tresidder proposed an aerial cable car system that would take visitors from the Yosemite Valley floor up to Glacier Point. Another route would take visitors from Tenaya Creek Canyon to Tenaya Lake. Fortunately that plan was ultimately scrapped due to its intrusiveness on the park’s landscape and beauty.
Today those protected walls make up Yosemite’s incredible wilderness climbing experience, with multiple human-powered recreation activities being protected in the area. Since no motorized equipment can be used in this areas, bolts or fixed anchors that need installation or repair must be taken care of with hand tools, allowing the area to stay as natural as possible.
